House ends session this week, misses legislation target<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives (DPR) will bring its current
\nsession to a close on Friday, with the same old problems
\nsimmering in the background, namely its inability to finish the
\ndeliberation of targeted bills.<\/p>\n
With only five days left, it is impossible for legislators to
\npass 22 bills on the priority list of this ongoing session, which
\nincludes crucial bills on political parties and elections.<\/p>\n
Only two of the 22 targeted bills were endorsed last week.
\nThey were the Copyright bill and the bill on a National Science
\nand Technology System.<\/p>\n
This week, the House is scheduled to endorse three more bills.
\nThey are bills on Electricity, Child Protection and the
\nestablishment of the province of Riau Islands.<\/p>\n
Legislators were supposed to finish the deliberation of those
\nfive bills in the last session, but they failed to meet the set
\ntarget.<\/p>\n
The House will carry over the unfinished bills for
\ndeliberation to the next session, which will proceed from Aug. 16
\nthrough Sept. 27.<\/p>\n
The inability of the House to improve its performance has been
\na serious concern since 2000, when it began focusing more on its
\nsupervisory role.<\/p>\n
In that year, the House finished deliberating 23 bills and
\npassed them into law.<\/p>\n
During the 16-month rule of former president B.J. Habibie,
\nwhich began in May 1998, at least 50 laws were endorsed.<\/p>\n
Legislators have been preoccupied with political bickering
\nover the setting up of a committee to investigate financial
\nscandals allegedly involving former president Abdurrahman Wahid.<\/p>\n
The long inquiry process led to the unseating of Abdurrahman
\nwhich then drew the National Awakening Party (PKB), a loyal
\nsupporter of Abdurrahman, to seek retribution.<\/p>\n
PKB's retaliatory action became apparent through its efforts,
\nsince October last year, to form a committee to investigate the
\ninvolvement of Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung in a financial
\nscandal.<\/p>\n
These efforts ran aground when only one out of 73 legislators
\nvoted for the establishment of an inquiry team. A total of 193
\nlegislators voted against and 94 others abstained.<\/p>\n
The House's failure to set up the inquiry team was attributed
\nto Golkar's success in lobbying Indonesian Democratic Party of
\nStruggle (PDI Perjuangan) and PKB.<\/p>\n
A member of the House's Legislation Body (Baleg), Firman Jaya
\nDaeli, however, refuted the view that political bickering was the
\nreason why the House had failed to complete the deliberation of
\nthe bills.<\/p>\n
The inability of legislators to meet their targets, he said,
\nwas due to the lack of support from the administration and the
\nlack of time.<\/p>\n
\"We have a strong will, but there has not been enough support
\nfrom the administration,\" said Firman of PDI Perjuangan faction.<\/p>\n
According to Firman, the main problem was the limited time
\navailable for the deliberation of the bills. He said most of the
\ntime allocated for legislators was spent at hearing sessions with
\nstate institutions as part of the House's supervisory role.<\/p>\n
Akil Mochtar of Golkar agreed, adding that legislators often
\ndelayed the deliberation of bills for other urgent sessions.<\/p>\n
Citing the selection of members of the National Commission on
\nHuman Rights (Komnas HAM), Akil said that the selection process
\ntook two weeks and had drawn the House's Commission II to delay
\nthe deliberation of other bills.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/house-ends-session-this-week-misses-legislation-target-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}